SOUTH WALES POLICE OFFICER CLAIMS MISCONDUCT IN SACKED CASE

A former South Wales Police sergeant has alleged that senior officers engaged in sexual conduct with junior colleagues at a police station, according to court papers reviewed following his successful employment tribunal claim. Rhodri Davies was sacked last year after being found guilty of gross misconduct for striking a handcuffed detainee three times at Swansea Central police station. Judge Samantha Moore ruled in his favour on 29 July, finding that South Wales Police's misconduct investigation was "deeply flawed", though she made no determination on whether his treatment of the detainee was justified.

Mr Davies claimed he was victimised because he had previously sued the force in 2020 after being suspended on sexual misconduct allegations, which were later dropped with no findings against him. In that earlier claim, he argued that female officers who behaved similarly had not faced misconduct investigations, and South Wales Police settled the case with a payout without admitting wrongdoing. According to Mr Davies, officers in the professional standards department were aggrieved at the payout, which he alleged led to bias in the subsequent investigation into the 2022 detainee incident involving Tariq Evans.

In court documents from his original 2020 tribunal claim, Mr Davies alleged that two senior officers had sexual relations with two female officers at Swansea Central police station. Compensation in his recent tribunal case is to be decided at a later hearing. South Wales Police has not yet responded to the allegations contained in the court papers.